Jackson swimmer Kinney wraps up career with state titles, records

Jackson girls swimming coach Matt Ziders knew senior sprinter Chase Kinney was capable of great things in the pool. What Kinney did in her final appearance at the Division I state swimming championships Saturday at C.T. Branin Natatorium may have caught even Ziders a little off guard.

What Kinney did in her final appearance at the Division I state swimming championships Saturday at C.T. Branin Natatorium may have caught even Ziders a little off guard.

A day after breaking two Division I state records in her preliminary swims, Kinney came back to set another record (22.53) in repeating as state champion in the 50-yard freestyle. Kinney then matched the 100 freestyle record of 49.70 she set in Friday’s prelims in avenging a second-place finish last year to Upper Arlington’s Gracie Long. The previous Division I mark of 49.97 had been on the books since 1982.

“Anytime you break state records ... I don’t know if it’s a surprise, because I expected her to go fast. To actually see it happen, though, was just awesome,” Ziders said.

“Even when you think someone can go 22.5 or 22.6 — I had a feeling she could go that fast — but when you see someone win the 50 by eight-tenths of a second, that’s just something else. You don’t see it very often. It was pretty awesome to watch.”

Ziders and the Jackson girls had a pretty awesome weekend in general, as Kinney’s exploits helped the Polar Bears to a seventh-place finish in the team standings, the school’s highest ever.

The state Division I records by Kinney, who is headed to the University of Wisconsin to compete, was what had the packed house at Branin buzzing. For comparison’s sake, Kinney won the 50 free last season in a solid time of 23.41.

“We’ve had those state records in mind this year,” Ziders said. “I think she was a little surprised when she went 22.5 in the prelims (Friday). To never break 23 before and to then just shatter that barrier was something really special.

“She had it in her mind she wanted to go after those records, but I don’t know if she quite realized how memorable it would be and how much of an accomplishment it was until she broke that 50 record.”

Kinney was joined on the podium following the 50 free by teammate Biz Graeff, who placed sixth in 23.86. Graeff also finished 14th in the 100 backstroke.

“That was great to see Biz finish like that in the 50,” Ziders said. “To have two girls from Jackson on the podium in that event was really special. They’re such great friends, so to see them up there together was a really cool thing.”

Kinney and Graeff had two more podium finishes, as they teamed up with sophomore Haley Loughner and freshman Kaitlyn Daiger to place fourth in the 200 free relay. Graeff, freshman Victoria Addis, Daiger and Kinney finished eighth in the 200 medley relay.

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The number of podium finishes, coupled with the relative youth of the Jackson program, has Ziders hopeful of keeping the momentum going into the offseason.

“We’ll talk about that in the weeks to come, about using this as a springboard to the future,” Ziders said. “We don’t want to look back and just say this was a great year, we want to use this to keep building our program up and keep getting stronger.

“The great part, both boys and girls, is we took 27 kids to the district meet and we have 23 of those coming back. We’re losing Chase, but we gained a wealth of experience.”